​As 2016 wound to a close and anticipation for 2017 filled my heart, I began asking the Lord to give me a new word for the New Year. The word of the year is my theme for the upcoming year; an area where the Lord is directing my focus in order to grow me spiritually. This practice has proven to be far more effective than making any well-intended yet short-lived New Year’s resolutions.

I was hoping for a strong word like COURAGEOUS or FEARLESS. That didn’t happen. Instead of giving me my preference, the Holy Spirit impressed a word upon me that I was not so eager to claim: THANKFUL.

Umm, can we have a redo?

It seemed too vanilla and unexciting to me. I pretty much told the Lord, “Any word but that word!”

Certain that I had gotten it wrong, I persisted in prayer and hoped that a new word would soon emerge. But, nothing else came. It took me weeks to accept that – like it or not – THANKFUL was indeed the Lord’s intended word for me for 2017.

Claiming the verse to accompany my new word was much easier than claiming the word itself. The Lord started sowing this verse into my heart earlier in the summer when I read The Hiding Place, a book about Holocaust survivor Corrie ten Boom. This book had me hooked. I found myself laughing, crying, gasping, and wanting to jump into the pages and change the course of history. Its message of unflinching faith in the face of extreme adversity stuck to me in the weeks ahead. Also, tucked inside its pages was a simple yet profound story that taught me about the transforming power of thankfulness. In unbearable circumstances, Corrie’s sister, Betsie, showed Corrie how to thank God for everything, even the perceivably bad things. It reads:

It will be better, everyone assured everyone else, when we move into permanent barracks. We’ll have a blanket apiece. A bed of our own. Each of us painted into the picture her own greatest need.

The move to permanent quarters came the second week in October. Betsie and I followed a prisoner-guide through the door at the right. Our noses told us, first, that the place was filthy: somewhere plumbing had backed up, the bedding was soiled and rancid. Then as our eyes adjusted to the gloom we saw that there were no individual beds at all, but great square piers stacked three high, and wedged side by side.

At last she pointed to a second tier in the center of a large block. To reach it we had to stand on the bottom level, haul ourselves up, and then crawl across three other straw-covered platforms to reach the one that we would share with – how many? The deck above us was too close to let us sit up. We lay back, struggling against the nausea that swept over us from the reeking straw.

Suddenly I sat up, striking my head on the cross-slats above. Something had pinched my leg.

“Fleas!” I cried. “Betsie, the place is swarming with them!”

We scrambled across the intervening platforms and edged our way to a patch of light.

“Here! And here another one!” I wailed. “Betsie, how can we live in such a place?”

“Show us. Show us how.” It was said so matter of factly it took me a second to realize she was praying. More and more the distinction between prayer and the rest of life seemed to be vanishing for Betsie.

“Corrie!” she said excitedly. “He’s given us the answer! Before we asked, as He always does! In the Bible this morning. Where was it? Read that part again!”

I glanced down the long dim aisle to make sure no guard was in sight, then drew the Bible from its pouch. “It was First Thessalonians,” I said. We were on our third complete reading of the New Testament since leaving Scheveningen. In the feeble light I turned the pages. “Here it is…‘Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus – ‘”

“That’s it, Corrie! That’s His answer. ‘Give thanks in all circumstances!’ That’s what we can do. We can start right now to thank God for every single thing about this new barracks!”

I stared at her, then around me at the dark, foul-aired room.

“Such as?” I said.

“Such as being assigned here together.”

I bit my lip. “Oh yes, Lord Jesus!”

“Such as what you’re holding in your hands.”

I looked down at the Bible. “Yes! Thank You, dear Lord, that there was no inspection when we entered here! Thank You for all the women, here in this room, who will meet You in these pages.”

“Yes,” said Betsie. “Thank You for the very crowding here. Since we’re placed so close, that many more will hear!” She looked at me expectantly. “Corrie!” she prodded.

“Oh, all right. Thank You for the jammed, crammed, stuffed, packed, suffocating crowds.”

“Thank You,” Betsie went on serenely, “for the fleas and for – “

The fleas! This was too much. “Betsie, there’s no way even God can make me grateful for a flea.”

“’Give thanks in all circumstances,’” she quoted. “It doesn’t say, ‘in pleasant circumstances.’ Fleas are part of this place where God has put us.”

And so we stood between piers of bunks and gave thanks for fleas. But this time I was sure Betsie was wrong.

Like Corrie, I often imagine a better life ahead. I paint a picture where my greatest needs are met, desires are fulfilled, and life is comfortable and happy. I say, "It will be better when..." And, when that doesn’t happen, I wallow in depression. I get anxious. I fear the unknown. I feel weary. I focus too intently on the fleas, the minor nuisances, and make them bigger than what they really are. Worst of all, I never thank God for any of it. None. What would be the reason?

So, here I am with perhaps one of the hardest verses in the Bible to live out, “Give thanks in ALL circumstances,” as my verse for 2017.

Why that word? What that verse? Why?

Yet, I knew why. The Lord wanted to cultivate in me a spirit of thankfulness. And, if that’s what He desired for me, I could trust that there was a good reason for it.

Being a born procrastinator, I wanted to put off the task. But, very quickly into the New Year, the Lord decided it was time for us to get busy. It started with my middle child. His health history is long. Our journey with this child has been a decade in the making and not one stage has been easy. I have lamented SO MANY times to the Lord and pleaded for Him to make my job as his mother easier. The beginning of 2017 found me doing more of the same. But, instead of listening to my lamenting, the Lord would say, “Tell me 3 things you are thankful for right now.” What I really wanted to do was continue on with my whine, let my imagination about the “what if’s” run wild, and shout, “Help me Lord!!”

Yet, the Lord wanted me to give thanks instead.

Like Corrie, I would squabble with Him at first. But, ever so slowly, it would happen. I would push pause on my anxious thoughts and search for something positive in the whole situation. With diligent focus, something good would start to come into view.

The same thing happened with my older son. He was struggling to make new friends in his new school. My heart has never been so burdened for him! It produced an anxious spirit within me that kept me up at night. I silently transposed my own childhood fears of rejection onto him which proved to be a surefire way to crank my anxiety up even higher.

“Thank me,” the Spirit would whisper.

And, pushing pause on my anxiety, I would do just that:

“Thank you Lord that you are a man well-acquainted with rejection for you know how he feels.”Isaiah 53:3

“Thank you Lord for the one friend that he has at school. He would be so lonely without her.”

“Thank you Lord that he doesn’t sit alone at lunchtime.”

Was this easy? No. My heart cried while my tongue thanked. But, wrapped up in my thanksgiving was peace in knowing that my burdens were safe at my Savior’s feet. Having placed them there, I could begin to see all the ways that the Lord was working in that situation. And, by faith, I believed that He would weave it into a greater purpose.

These two situations have continued to come up throughout this past year along with some others. Each time, with a racing heart and “what-ifs” bubbling to the surface of my mind, I have begun to go into autopilot and start my thanksgiving. And, do you know what? My anxieties are gone!

This discipline has shown me that the antidote for anxiety is thanksgiving! An anxious mind cannot co-exist with a thankful heart. They operate on two completely different wavelengths. It’s as if you have to flip the anxious switch off in order to flip the thanksgiving switch on. What a discovery!

Corrie and Betsie’s story goes on to tell us what happened in those flea-infested barracks:

Betsie and I made our way to the rear of the dormitory room where we held our worship “service.” There were services like no others. Betsie or I would open the Bible. Because only the Hollanders could understand the Dutch text, we would translate aloud in German. And then we would hear the life-giving words passed back along the aisles in French, Polish, Russian, Czech, back into Dutch. There were little previews of heaven, these evenings beneath the lightbulb. I would know again that in darkness God’s truth shines most clear.

At first Betsie and I called these meetings with great timidity. But as night after night went by and no guard ever came near us, we grew bolder. So many now wanted to join us that we held a second service after evening roll call. There on the Lagerstrasse we were under rigid surveillance, guards in their warm wool capes marching constantly up and down. Yet in the large dormitory room there was almost no supervision at all. We did not understand it.

Over one thousand women crammed into that tight, putrid space where the Gospel was shared night after night in six different languages. All of this was done with no disruption whatsoever from the ever-watchful eyes of the Nazi guards. But how?

The fleas.

Corrie and Betsie later found out that the guards wouldn’t come into their dormitory because “that place is crawling with fleas!’” ​

And, to think that Corrie was sure the fleas had no good purpose. Imagine if she had refused to be thankful for them?

Why do we have to walk through difficult circumstances? Why has this past year been hard? This past week? I don’t know why. But, I can say this…the fleas have a purpose. Each one can draw us closer to the Lord. He wouldn’t allow them if it weren’t so.

2 Corinthians 4:17: For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

You can thank the Lord for your light and momentary troubles today. And, you can thank Him for them tomorrow. And, the next day. And the next. Day after day you can thank Him until thanksgiving is an automatic response that spontaneously erupts from your lips. Your troubles may not change, but, I can guarantee you, you will.

First, I am a child of God. And, like a child, I am always learning and growing. The more I know Him, the more I love Him. Second, I am a wife to a good man. Missions is his thing while teaching women to love God’s Word is mine. Third, I am a mama to three plus a sweet cockapoo who thinks he’s #4. My children are my ongoing sanctification. Fourth, I am a passionate advocate of all things healthy & natural, an even 50/50 split of introvert/extrovert, and a dreamer/designer. Old friends call me Becky, newer ones call me Rebecca, and the most intimate ones call me Beck. You can just call me friend.

Awesome! This is just what I needed today!!! Thankful...what a powerful word...in all circumstances...ouch...ALL Lord?? YES, even fleas!!!!! Thank you Lord for opening my eyes to be thankful in ALL circumstances!!

Reply

Rebecca

23/11/2017 09:14:00 am

Yes, I know! Ouch is right!! But, there’s always some way the Lord is blessing us in all situations. It’s so beautiful to uncover!

Reply

Mary Sue Hubbard

22/11/2017 04:18:11 pm

When we read in the Bible that our sovereign God can & does use anything in His creation to achieve His purpose & plan, this is a perfect example❣️

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Rebecca

23/11/2017 09:14:45 am

Your entire life testifies to this truth! You have lived it out well!

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Jennifer

23/11/2017 05:47:55 am

Last year this time my oldest son was just coming home with 24 hour nursing care and still in a coma after surviving a horrific tractor trailer accident. Last night as my 3 children, all young adults now, assembled in the kitchen where we were baking pies we reflected on years of hardship. Today marks the 10 year anniversary of the death of their father. Our thoughts turned to thanksgiving for God's amazing love. My son is making remarkable recovery and it is only with faithful and thankful hearts we know he is with us today a new creation. He doesn't remember a year ago or even some of yesterday, but he is here with us to celebrate another year of being thankful. Today's message is my spoken prayer over our lives for many years... "give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God".

Reply

Rebecca

23/11/2017 09:17:55 am

Thank you so much for sharing your story. It has touched me and challenged me to find joy in hardship. If you ever write...which you should...please share it with me.